Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, here we go. The cost of living is, as all of us know, a challenge for many people and a challenge right across our community. But it's a challenge that, in actual fact, you have to put policies in place for, and that's exactly what Labor's done not just to resolve it but also to help people, support people and support the community to get a better outcome than what's happening and what was happening when we took over.

When we came into government, what we were left by the previous government was a whole raft of problems. For every change we put forward to this Senate and to this parliament—every progressive, smart idea and every piece of relief that went to the Australian public—they voted against it. We know why they voted against it and didn't want to give relief to hardworking Australians. They voted against it because they put us in the crisis in the first place. These are the sorts of people who really don't care about the consequences of their policies. If they did care, they'd actually turn around and start saying, 'We were brave enough to say what we stood for.' We know one thing they stand for: $350 billion worth of services being taken off hardworking Australians.

We saw what happened with Medicare when they first got into office in the last round: 'There is nothing to see here.' Nothing was going to happen. Peter Dutton took $50 billion out of Medicare, out of the health system, and tried to do co-payments when they said they'd do nothing. Heaven forbid—this time they said they're actually going to do something, but they won't tell you what that is. You can only go off the history of what they've done, but what they've said is they're going to hit you with a whacking $350 billion worth of services that will be taken out.

That's before you get to the $600 billion nuclear fantasy. Why are they doing it? The factional obligations in their political party, all the twisting and turning, all the differing views and the 22 energy policies meant that they decided to put in an idea about nuclear: 'That way we can all say we support something—not support the country and not have an initiative that makes things better but make sure that the factional deal can be done.' They want to bankrupt this country with the strategy that they've adopted, with a $600 billion bill, and take $350 billion out of services.

Clearly what they also did were the things that they voted against and the policies that they've put forward. There would be over $7,500 of extra cost that would be put on every working Australian if you were to go with the policies that they've turned around and put forward whilst being in the Senate during this term of this government, this Albanese government. There are also other policies and proposals they have put forward, like the extra $1,200 in electricity costs that will come out of energy. Can you imagine spending $600 billion and in 2050 only 3.7 per cent of the energy mix being nuclear? It costs more. It's a deal to make sure that the factions in their party can all get on. It's the 22 policies that they couldn't agree on. They finally agreed on bankrupting the country with a stupid policy that will cost every Australian more.

Then you start looking at the policies that they've adopted right across the board. When we came in, inflation was higher and, of course, was rising, real wages were falling, living standards were declining and people were going backwards. That's what they left. Now we're seeing that inflation is at almost a third of what it was when the election was called all that time ago—only a couple of years ago.

Real wages are growing again. Living standards are rising again. We recorded the lowest average unemployment rate for any government in 50 years, and we've overseen the creation of more than 1.1 million jobs. But the job still has to be done. They're offering for you all to be worse off. They're offering to take $350 billion out of the pockets of hardworking Australians for services that they need to get on. They're the ones that broke the middle class. They're the ones under whom the middle class shrunk. We're the ones that are actually turning around and rebuilding the middle class.

But there's more work to be done. They have one strategy, and the strategy they've always put in place is one that makes sure that we're meaner, we're crueller and we're less reflective about what this community needs to make sure that we get on and help those that want to turn around and take an opportunity to move up in the world and not be held back. They don't care about things like fee-free TAFE that give people the opportunity to be better. They're opposed to it. That's where the $350 billion is going to come from. Things will be worse off under a Dutton government, which will crush the Australian public.